Method of handling freight, express, and the like



A. H. SMITH.

METHOD 0F HANDLING FREIGHT, EXPRESS, AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILE@ APR.2B,1921. 1,40%596, Patented Feb. 2L i922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. H. SMITH. METHOD DE HANDLING FREIGHT, EXPRESS, AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 28.1921.

Patented. Heb. 2T, T922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

:Q T T2 n D D WD N? s' Y Le. o f 1o o o o A/ TW Ijo N* N if N E A. H. SMITH. METHOD 0F HANDLING FREIGHT, EXPRESS, AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.28, 192|. 1,407,596, Patented Feb, 2L, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

D O O 0 0 0 0 D 0 D 0 D O 0 O o D 0 are ALFRED H'. SMITH, 0F CHAPPAQUA, NEW YORK.

METHOD 0F HANDLING FREIGHT, EXPRESS, AND THE LIKE.

Specification of ZI2.ettersIa1:ent. Patented Feb, 2t, 1922,

Original application led June `9 1920, Serial No. 387,517. Divided. and this application filed April 28, 1921. Serial No. 465,348.

T o all whom z't may concern.' v

Be it known that l, ALFRED H. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing 'at Chappaqua, Westchester' County, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Method of Handling Freight, Express, 4and the like, of which the following is a specification;

In the system now in vogue inhandling freight and express matter it is necessary for the shipper in many instances, to crate his goods then liaul them to the station to a receiving platform from whence. it is loaded onto the car and this series of operations 1s repeated after the goods reacht-he destination city. In the case of a shipment of merchandise, etc., the manufacturer must construct packing cases which involves a material expense.

In the billing of less than carload lots of merchandise for shipment, each box and package must be itemized and counted. By this invention, the lading would be placed inv the compartment at shippers load and count, would be sealed and locked and the compartment would be handled intact; the way billing will be reduced to a minimum; the reciting in detail of what the compartment contains will be eliminated.` 0n some railroads, 80% of the billing is composed of these small items, and the checking of such takes time, involves expense and 1nvolves a great amount of labor.

As regards the burglary of cars and the loss and-damage of freight; this `mostly occurs between the vtime when the shipment is delivered to the freight house at the point of ori in and the time it is delivered to the freight house at destination, for the reason that the average shipment passes through a large number of hands, is liable to breakage and gives opportunity for removing aportion of the merchandise.

ln many instances cars are broken into while standing in yards and also while the trainsare in'motion, the packages being thrown out along the load and removed by confederates.

A great deal offdamage also occurs by reason of rough handling in freight houses by careless employees or because the container is of insutlicient strength. Also the constant rta-handling of packages is responsible for breakage or partly destroyed goods.

It should also be taken into account that in addition to the actual loss and damage, there is a considerable loss to the public by reason of the fact that what they have purchased and shipped fails to arrive, or upon arrival, 1s 1n a damaged condition. This delays sales, and, in the case of' castings and similar building material, delays construction, results 1n great inconvenience and loss of moneyN so that the actual loss and damage, while it can be measured in terms of money, cannot be measured as to actual loss because of its importance at a given time. Furthermore, with this invention, shipments will not be so much exposed to, the elements.

Reports show that loss and damage on L. Q. L. (less than car lots) .on one railroad for s1x months ended February 29th, 1920 was $2,161,680. A study shows that 11% of frelght revenue is derived from L. C. L freight. 0n. this basis during the Six months this traffic produced $10,239,682 revenues on said railroad. The loses shown,

therefore, bear a ratio of 21 per cent to the amount received for carrying the freight. Practically 80% of the billing is due to L. C. L. freight. The elimination of this alone is a very material item.

Under the present rate of wage scale the handlings of the individual packin cases from dray to platform and from platform to car, from car to platform and from platform to dray is a very large item of expense in the handling of express and freight matter. Une of the objectsof my invention is to provide individual freight or merchandise compartments to shippers at the factory or stores into which their goods may be placed -without being previously cratedand the compartments loaded and placed upon a dray from which it is lifted onto a car or platform at the railroad station there being a plurality of these compartments for each car so that the individual compartment may be lifted bodily with its contents from the car at the point of its destination and placed upon a truck to be delivered to the consignee at the store or factory who will unpack the compartment and have it returned to the railroad. By this system it will be seen that a number of handlings of freight ."nerchann dise, parcel post and express matter is elimihated thereby cutting down the cost besides which the lading is thoroughly pret-acted tion while enro`ute.

from the inclemencies of the weather while in tfransit and thoroughly protected against the t.

Another object of this invention is` to place aplurallty of these compartments on a single car, in juxtaposition, with the door of one compartment facing a wall of the next adjacent compartment or an abutment whereby the doors are held in closed posi- The doors being adjacent the walls of the next compartment or an abutment cannot be opened while the compartments are in transit on the railroad.

Another object of my invention'is to provide means whereby thesev compartments may 4be anchored andstabilized on the car against accidental displacement and to provide the compartments with suitable devices to which the chain of a crane may be attached whereby the compartments may be promptly lifted from the car by a crane and deposited on a delivery truck or platform.

Another object of my invention is to provide each compartment with compression members to prevent the buckling, twisting or distorting under the strain of the load in the act of lifting them by a crane from the car to the truck or platform.

Another object of my invention is to so construct each compartment that it will be braced to withstand the weaviiig of the car under service Iconditions. With these and other objects in view my invention consists of the parts, and combination of arts, as will be hereinafter more fully set orth.

In the drawings: y

Figure 1 is a detailed side elevation and vertical longitudinal section of a car andcompartment embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1, the compartment being partly in section.

Figure 3 is a transverse section of a car showing a compartment in position on it, the compartment being partially broken away to show the friction wedge lock between the car and compartment.

The reference numeral 1 designates a gondola car which may be of any desired or standard construction. In the present instance I have shown the end, 3, and side walls 4 of the car constructed of sheet metal, the end walls being provided with longitudinally extending corrugations, 5, which corrugations function as beams thereby materially strengthening the end walls against thrust. The upper edge of the end and side walls is reinforced by the angle iron 6.

In the present instance the interior of the body of the car is divided into aY series of spaces by means of transverse members, 7, each end of which is connected to the angle iron 6, by the means of the gusset 8, as clearly shown in the drawings.

2 is a wedge element riveted to the inner Wedge elements, 10, are secured to the end walls of the car, as shown in the drawings, and these elements are of the same construction as the wedge element 2. JW edge elements 11 are secured to the transverse member 7 and consist of a substantially U shaped member 12 with its arms converging toward each other at the top whereby inclined wedges are formed along the same angle and pitch as the wedge elements 2. The` armsof the wedge member 11 are secured to a channel iron compression member 14.

From this it will be seen that there are shown in the present embodiment eight wedge members for each space on the car.

The stakes 9r are each provided with a longitudinally extending corrugation which functions as a beam to support. the side Walls of the car against bulging outwardly.

As stated the car is divided into a plurality of spaces,` the number being dependent upon the length ofthe car, said spaces be.- ing designed to receive and retain against accidental displacement, a plurality of individual freight, merchandise, or parcel post compartments.

Inasmuch as all of the compartments are of the same construction it will be necessary only to describe one of them. The compartments are preferably constructed of sheet metal, the walls of the compartments may be provided with corrugations extending vertically of the compartments, or the walls may be of Hat sheet metal.

These corrugations function as beams for the side walls whereby said walls may be constructed of comparatively thin metal without impairing the strength of the wall and the ability of the walls to withstand the shocks, strains and stress incidental to service conditions while the compartment is in transit on a car.

The side walls of the compartment are secured at the corners to an angle bar 1-6, the extreme end portions of the side sheets being extended beyond the corner and dcfiected outward at 17 so as to lie parallel. A corner cap 18 substantially U shaped in cross section is fitted on the extended ends 17, of the side walls and secured by means of rivets to the side wall of the compartment and angle iron 16 so that the rivets are dcommon to the side wall, angle iron 16, and U shaped cap 18. j 'llhis corner formation very materially strengthens the corner joints of the compartment against twisting and other strains so that the Vcompartment will remain in square under all service conditions. In addition to the function of strengthening the corners of vthe compartment the U shaped corner cap 18, also functions to make a weather and dust proof joint in the corner of the compartment. This U shaped cap 18 and'extended portions 17 of the side wall terminate at a point above the bottom of the compartment. At each corner of the compartment I secure a wedge element 20 which extends from the termination of the lower end of the corner cap 18 -to a point in the plane of the {ioor of the compartment which wedge elements engage and co-act with the wedge elements 10 and 11 when the compartment is lowered into position on the car thereby ycentering and locking the compartment in its -proper position on the car.

On each side and one end wall of the compartment Iprovide wedge members 21 which are the counterpart of wedge members -2 and 11 reversely positioned with respect to and which also function with the corner wedge members of the compartment to center and lock the compartment in its position when placed upon the car.

As shown in the drawing the door of the compartment is preferably corrugated to strengthen it against distortion and the 'oint between the free end of the door an the end wall of the compartment may be of varied form, but of course the joint must be weather and dust proof. The door, 22, is provided with. any suitable lock 23 and hinIges 24C.

he floor, 25, of the compartment is positioned above the lower edges of the walls of thecqmpartment and is secured to the walls of the compartment by means of the channels 26 which function as spacing members and sustain that portion of the walls projecting below the Hoor level against bending and distortion. This projection of the lower ends of the walls below the floor of the compartment also functions to prevent the floor of the compartment coming in contact with any water that may accumulate in the car or on the platform.

At the top of the compartment there are angle irons extending along each wall of the compartment, one leg of which angle irons is suitably riveted to the walls of the compartment. The angle irons 27 at the top of the compartment are shaped to the pitch of the roof. The roof is preferably' a solid steel roof and is composed of the sheets 28 and 29.

The sheets 28 and 29 have the side marginal edges turned upwardly to form upstanding fianges over which are fitted a combined carline and roof seam cap 30 thereby making -compartment is in position on the car.

the joint between the upstanding flanges of adjacent sheets weather and dust proof. These combined carlines and seam caps are flared outwardly at the eaves end thereby providing an extended bearing on the roof at the eaves. The roof sheets and the ends of the combined cap and carline at the eaves are riveted together and to an angle iron 27. It will be seen from the drawing that the eaves end of the combined cap and carline and roof sheets are bent downwardly to form a drip. At the sides of the compartment the roof sheets extend beyond the side walls and are riveted to an angle iron 27 which in turn is riveted to the side .walls of the compartment.

' On diagonal corners of the compartment, or on all four corners of the compartment, as may be desired, I secure gusset plates 32 to which are pivotally secured lifting loops 33 with which the chain of the crane may be attached for the purpose of lifting the compartment.

While I have, for the purpose of describing and illustrating my invention, shown a specific form of compartment and arrangement of car to receive the compartments it wlll be understood that my invention is not limited to such specific constructions but on the contrary is generic to the broad idea of providing a compartment which may be loaded by the shipper, placed upon a car adapted to receive it and removed from said car and' delivered to the consignee with the shipment intact, and the loading of a series of such compartments on a car with the door of 'each compartment adjacent a wall of another.` compartment, or an abutment which prevent-s the opening of the door while tige t. is also obvious that the underframe of the car may be of a skeleton form.

Of course it is obvious that I may place a running board on the top of the compartments or design the car to have a running board somewhat similar to those on tank cars.

This application is a division of my copending case, Serial Number 387,517, filed June 9, 1920.

What I claim is:

1. The method of loading a plurality of independent freight compartments on a car, which consists in arranging said compartments adjacent each other with the doors of each compartment facing a wall of the next adjacent compartment whereby only the imperforate walls of the compartments are exposed to View when mounted on the car.

2. The method of loading a plurality of independent freight compartments on a car, which consists in arranging said comparb ments adjacent each other with the doors of each compartment adjacent a stop on the car, whereby the doors cannot be' opened while the compartments are on the car.

3. The method of handling freight, merchandise, parcel post,-and the like in less than car load lots which consists in packing the lading at the point of origin in a compartment at shippers load and count, locking and sealing the compartment, handling and loading the compartment intact on a car and giving a single way bill for the intact compartment, transporting the compartment to city of destination then lifting the compartment. intact from the car and moving 1t on a truckto place of business of consignee.

4f'. The method of handling freight, merchandise, parcel post, and the like in less than car load lots, Ywhich consists in packing the lading at the point of origin in a compartment at ship ers load and count, locking and sealing t e compartment, handling and loading the compartment intact on a car and giving a single way bill for the intact compartment, anchoring the compartment on the car, transporting the compartment vto city of destination, when lifting the compartment intact from the car and moving it on a truck to place of business of consignee.

Maaate 5. The method of handling a plurality of less than car load lots of lading for the same or different points of destination on a railroad which consists in loading each lot of lading in its particular compartment at shippers load and count, locking and sealing each compartment, handling and loading the plurality of compartments on a single car with the door of each compartment adjacent a stop to prevent the opening of the door of the compartments while on the car, anchoring each compartment on the car, giving a single way bill for each intact compartment, transporting the-l compart ments to their respective destination point on the railroad, removing the respective compartments intact from the car at their said points of destination andplacing them vintact on a truck and moving the compartments on a truck to place of business of' consignee, whereby each lcompartment may be removed from a car without impairing the security of the other compartments and of the car.

ln testimony whereof, I ailix my signature.

ALFRED n. SMITH, 

